


The Devil Deals in Hearts

by Just_Trying_To_Get_Around_You



Series: The Spirit of L’manberg [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Dave | Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, Gen, Graphic Metaphors, How is that not a tag, Insane Wilbur Soot, Spirit!Wilbur, fundy schlatt and techno all get a mention, go him, suicide ideation, tommy gets a line of dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27918466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Trying_To_Get_Around_You/pseuds/Just_Trying_To_Get_Around_You
Summary: An expanded look at Wilbur’s psyche throughout his exile.(Hint, it isn’t good)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: The Spirit of L’manberg [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037130
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	The Devil Deals in Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warnings for: Canon grim events, mentions of strained father-son relationships, apathy, injury mention, repression, implied paranoia, suicide ideation
> 
> Yes that is a “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” lyric in the title.

The beginning of the end goes a bit like this.

Wilbur is still coming down from the high of winning, but he sobers somewhat under the reminder that he needs to hold an election. There are also new people on his land and it’s too many to handle comfortably. He distracts himself from the odd, invasive sensation by building up the podium.

See, there are two reasons that Wilbur needs to hold an election.

The first, the one he tells Tommy, is that he needs to be recognized as a democratic leader in order to consolidate power. People could argue that he didn’t have a right to the position of power just because he led the rebellion.

The second one, the one he tells nobody, is that he needs to be elected in order to bind the new citizens to the land. Right now he feels like bugs are crawling all over his skin, unable to be swatted away. If they see him as leader, the prickling phantom bugs will stop and Wilbur can be at peace once again.

And then Fundy decides to run against him, albeit in friendly spirits.

And then Quackity decides to run against him, with dreams of his own.

And then Schlatt decides to run against him, making Wilbur’s hair stand up and the ground underneath him ripple.

And he sends the ballots out into the universe.

Wilbur can feel the intentions of Schlatt from here. They are overcome with an ooze of corruption and greed and it makes him uncomfortable to even be around him because the pure  _ evil  _ in his aura makes Wilbur want to vomit and assimilate into the ground so that he could get more power and destroy him.

He originally brought Schlatt in to garner support from him, but he wasn’t ready for the sheer amount of  _ ill intent  _ just radiating off of him.

Normal people didn’t feel like that, at least not usually. He typically could only see the surface level emotions and intentions of a person, and even then, he had to be close to them, but it was like Schlatt was broadcasting his emotions at all times, as if taunting him.

When he gets up to read the votes, Schlatt is smiling, and Wilbur gets a Bad Feeling in his chest.

—

He is nervous.

He knows exactly what Schlatt plans to do and he somewhat unsubtly grabs Tommy’s hand and starts pulling him back through the crowd, and mercifully, Tommy says nothing for once in his life, only giving him sharp, questioning glares.

Once the words are out of Schlatt’s mouth, he runs, his hand locked around Tommy’s wrist.

People are shouting, people are fighting, and Wilbur feels a sudden, sharp,  _ stab  _ in his back as they escape, the tell tale thunk of an arrow hitting its mark accompanying the pain. 

(Later, privately, Tommy will dismiss the fact that the arrow hitting Wilbur should not have sounded like it had been fired into the side of a tree. This will be a mistake.)

—

Wilbur and Tommy stumble onwards, Eret’s voice crackling through their communicators that he can offer them shelter. They tell him to fuck off.

As they dig out a small hole in the wall for a home, Wilbur is quiet.

Tommy is not.

“Man I musta got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Wil, because I feel like I just ate zombie meat.”

Wilbur stays silent, even after that comment.

His tongue burns with the want to explain the connection, the magic binding and securing Tommy to the land he’d fought for and helped to found.

But Tommy will think he’s finally gone bonkers, and Tommy is the only thin connection he has left.

(He is startled by the sudden slack coming from the ties binding him to the people of L’manberg. The ties to the land are still there, taut yet firm, but the ties to the people, with the exception of Niki and Tubbo, have all been cut.

Even the tie to his son.)

—

Watching the citizens, including his son, help to tear down the walls is a grief that can’t be spoken.

He sings it though.

He feels the ripple of the wind in his hair and leans against the tree beside him on the cliffside.

For a moment, it feels like he’s back in L’manberg.

—

_ Niki finds Eret cursing and prodding at something intangible in the air. _

_ “Niki!” he calls quietly, and she darts over inconspicuously, concealing both of them behind a patch of unbroken wall. _

_ “What did you need to tell me?” she says, her voice also low. _

_ “I need you to tell Wilbur, next time you see him, that he needs to let me past the boundary of L’manberg.” _

_ Niki furrowed her brows, a sour tone entering her voice. “But Schlatt’s President. He has the authority to let you in.” _

_ “He can’t, Wilbur is the only one with the power. I swear to you that I’ll explain on another day, but trust me on just this one point.” _

_ Then Eret is gone, and Niki sighs, taking up her pickaxe once again, and swearing that she will fell Schlatt with her own hands if she has to. _

_ (Unbeknownst to the two, Fundy hears their entire exchange, but elects to keep quiet. What Schlatt doesn’t know won’t hurt anyone.) _

—

Wilbur doesn’t like the looks Technoblade is giving him.

They’re strange, but not in a good way.

He thinks Techno is documenting his movements and tasks.

(He’s right, but for the wrong reasons)

He focuses on the weight of the trenchcoat on his shoulders. It distracts sometimes from the pain of the strings ripping in his chest, like his limbs are being torn out of their sockets.

He tries to stay strong for them, his people, his friends. 

He tries, and fails.

—

The end goes a bit like this.

Wilbur does not feel love.

His emotions were scooped out by the shovel that dug into the soil of L’manberg and tore out its roots.

All he feels is the cold of the presence in his mind, still there despite everything, and the occasional urge to laugh when something interesting happens.

He meets with Dream for the TNT and it’s almost cute how Tommy tries to stop him. Dream has some of the most power on the server, and Wilbur plans to give Dream something he wants, the destruction of L’manberg.

He supposes he should call it Manberg, but the name still feels like poison on his lips, like heresy. 

He feels like a dead man walking.

The only thing he can focus on is blowing it all up.

His land is screaming in agony, and it takes all of his energy not to scream along with it.

He just needs to put it all out if its misery.

He needs to put himself out of his misery.

**Author's Note:**

> Spot the thematically appropriate musical reference
> 
> Yell at me about this AU on Tumblr @kikiofthevast


End file.
